gingpinMar 291 minWhat is Left After a Pandemic?Check out my review of Carla Rachel Sameth's darkly humorous collection of pandemic-era poems, What is Left. The review appears on the...
gingpinAug 10, 20211 minThank you, Regal House Publishing!I'm honored and thrilled to work with Regal House Publishing (RHP) -- an independent, traditional publisher with a stellar reputation for...
gingpinMay 21, 20214 minInside the Publix Grocery Store in the Time of AnarchyAuthor’s Note: The following humor column was written on May 15, 2021, a few days after the CDC eased its mask guidance. The author has...
gingpinMay 15, 20212 minWriting Prompt: What Have You Seen With Your Own Eyes?WASHOUT -- The sea turtle eggs, round and pale as golf balls, gaped from the side of the dune where the overheated, angry ocean had...
gingpinDec 23, 20204 minSouthern Belles and Carpet BuzzersThe fearless woman who helped demolish my garage cabinets was crouched on my staircase, painting the walls when I asked if her partner, a...
gingpinNov 14, 20202 minDown the Rabbit Hole: Craft NotesJake Wolff recently won the Internet. Wolff, a creative writing professor, editor and director of The Florida Review, and author of The...
gingpinNov 14, 20204 minIn Celebration of the Common RiffraffLooming from her second-floor balcony, the owner confronted me, twitchy as a highlighted chicken. “You weren’t expecting to come inside,...
gingpinOct 18, 20201 minThe FWA Saves 20202020 unleashed a global pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, and many bad DIY haircuts, but on Oct. 17, a nice thing happened. I won a gold...
gingpinOct 18, 20202 minThe Sausage on the RoofThis essay was written while my daughter was still in Nepal: When my boyfriend Mickey first hurled the slice of cooked Italian sausage...
gingpinOct 4, 20206 minBlack Mermaids MatterMonths before the brutal police killing of George Floyd, before the protests when I made a sign saying, “I Can’t Breathe” and "Stop the...
gingpinMay 18, 20207 minCrossing by MyselfEditor’s Note: I wrote this travelogue-style essay in November 2018, while visiting my daughter Caroline during her service with Peace...
gingpinJan 5, 20205 minWriting Prompt: What’s Your Most Cherished Childhood Place?My friend Alan as a young boy, standing on his uncle's shoulders in Brazil, ready to leap into his future, with many cousins in the...
gingpinJul 28, 20193 minWriting Prompt: You See a Body of Water ...Is it a freshwater pond? If so, is the water stagnant and murky, or clear, with light dancing on its surface? Maybe the body of water is...
gingpinJul 2, 20193 minMe Write Pretty One DayWhenever I’m learning a new skill – let’s say, how to properly document a sea turtle nest, surf tiny waves, or make toast without burning...
gingpinJun 9, 20192 minThe 13 Moons of Writer's Block “It’s just that my protagonist doesn’t want her brother to die,” I told a traveling companion at a café in Kathmandu. “I think it might...
gingpinJun 9, 20192 minPlot Goddess Invents QVC QueenThe struggle was real. After reading my forthcoming novel, City in a Forest, an editor whose opinion I trust (Kim Sheeter) pointed out...
gingpinJun 9, 20191 minEpic Snake Orgy Cures Writer's BlockIn my third novel, Seeing Gethin, my protagonist’s brother is crazy about snakes—brown, red, spotted, striped, harmless, venomous, or...
gingpinSep 20, 20181 minWhy I Was Mean - From Eckerd ReviewMy goal, in this nonfiction essay, was to provide a first-hand report on what Russ Douthat described in The New York Times as the 1970s...
gingpinSep 17, 20181 minFinding Mom's Gun - from Gravel Magazine“You need to find her gun and hide it,” my sister mumbled while our mother, propped in a hospital bed, prattled on about finding Bigfoot....
gingpinSep 12, 20181 minTagged - from Atticus ReviewBased on my partner’s encounter with U.S. Customs officials at Dulles airport, this essay is a romantic exploration of the discrimination...